ever, any serious mischief? From the pigeon-shooters we proceeded to a line of hurdles; and here I met always a dozen of my own species, jumping backwards and forwards, while the monkeys who rode them expressed by their noise and gesticulations their admiration of our performance. I remember at first that I was much admired; and, supposing that there was some reason for this exercise, I willingly exhibited my powers of leaping; but I soon discovered that it was only a new invention for tyrannizing over us, and not only strenuously refused to jump more than once, but had the satisfaction of persuading all the others to become refractory, as well by precept as example. I had been more in the world than most of them; and I never failed to impart my experience for their benefit. But what struck me as most singular in these summer-evening excursions was this-that, after leaving the hurdles, we went invariably to the top of a hill, where were more human beings at work like those on the common. Here my master usually dismounted, and I was led or ridden about by an ostler. After the lapse of an hour or more, Mr. Green Horne emerged from a white canvas-looking sort of room, and proceeded to ride me about; but the change that had come over him was quite wonderful. Instead of the quiet, really tolerable jockey I had been used to, he laughed, swore, challenged all the rest of his friends to race, pulled first on one side of my mouth, then on the other, with difficulty kept his seat as I walked away with him, and finally tumbled off when I broke into a trot. I long suspected him of the same habits of intemperance as my former groom and some others, but could scarcely believe it possible even in a human being of good blood. I now know that I did him injustice, for I have heard him himself declare, when on the ground, that he was "all right;" and my stable companions told me that it was a very common thing, and absolutely necessary, indeed, as a sign of a Bullingdon dinner.

So the summer went on, and then I went to London; and here firing stood me in good stead, for Mr. Green Horne could not ride me because I was blemished. Men have a sort of proverb that they don't know what's good for them: how should they, seeing that we don't ourselves?

When I returned to Oxford for the winter, I was put into what I mistook for our hospital, so full of lame and aged and degenerate of all sorts had it become. But alas! I soon found that it was "the stable," and nothing else. Every disease, excepting broken wind, had found a refuge there. One said he came from Rugby fair, and had fever in the feet for six years; that he had been nerved, as they called it; and that he was obliged to stand in buckets of lukewarm water before he went out, but that it didn't do him much good. Another had corns; another a spavin; and another said that he was at least twenty-five years old, though Halfmaster, the dealer, had sold him as "eight." Such a set of screws I never saw anywhere else, though they had all seen better days, and most of them had "fathers," some of them "mothers" too.

I shall not stay to repeat the tissue of lies which those young gentlemen daily told about the runs we had that season. Once for all, not one human being that I ever met with gives a proper version of the sport. Self, self, self, is the rock they split on-"I was there, I

was here, I was everywhere; I jumped the brook, I broke the rails, I went as straight as a bird; I killed the fox with two couple of hounds, and Will gave me the brush"-for half-a-sovereign, he ought to have said; but he didn't. I go, therefore, at once to the principal feature of my Oxford life, and one which gave me a notdishonourable wound.

An acquaintance of mine, named Orestes, was at that time considered the best horse in Oxford; but a private trial had been agreed upon, in which I was found to have a turn of speed. A steeplechase was got up; an entry of fifteen, all starters, was the consequence; and if the fences were all right, I was booked to win.

The day approached, and a moderate quantity of fools and rogues transacted business in my loose box, whither I had been removed. Green Horne, Esq., was of the former, the master of Orestes was of the latter sort. They, therefore, went shares upon this occasion, Orestes being too high in the public opinion to get much money on. With me the case was different-ten to one and fifteen to one against me (in counters which human beings call "money"). But to make assurance doubly sure, on the morning of the race I walked from the stable rather lame. My spirited owner declared Friar Bacon should go, if he had only a leg to stand upon.

"He can't win," said they; "thirty to one against him." I'd a stone_put into my foot ; though why, I didn't know till afterwards. "He'll walk his stiffness off," said the takers of odds, "though he can't well win, unless Orestes breaks his neck."

We got to Cottisford. I had walked my "stiffness" off before we got to the second milestone. "Go!" Away we went, fifteen of us. I knew the nature of every fence in the country. Barring accidents, the race was mine. At the third mile I had parted company with all but four: Orestes was one of those that remained. Within three fields from home I was winning in a canter. The fence before me was a thick bullfinch, but perfectly practicable. On we went, and over; but when I lit on the other side, I am unable to express the horrible agony I felt. My right eye was closed, and hot drops of gore seemed literally pouring from it. Maddened by pain, I forgot the spur and the rein, and, seizing the bit in my teeth, with my eyes both closed, rushed madly forward. My career was short; for in about twenty yards I came with all my force against another horse, and down we came together. The race was lost, so was my eye; and as my friend Orestes was the horse I ran against, our owners lost their money. Orestes never forgave me; for he said I was like a man at a feast, who could'nt eat it himself, and wouldn't let anybody help him.

I left Oxford with the reputation of an excellent horse, but a most unlucky one. I believe I have been unlucky, not always as affected myself, but sometimes as regards others. One more day settled the question of hunting any more with Mr. Green Horne. He lent me to an Oxford friend, who rode me almost straight-that's right! and he held on by the bridle over every fence-that's wrong! so I gave him eight falls in one run. "Its all his eye," said he to Green Horne; "I told you he'd never be fit for any

thing but a buggy." So to a buggy I was reduced through his stupidity.

Green Horne, like most asses, had an idea. Theirs is usually of hugging one side of the road or the other, instead of keeping in the middle. His was how to put a horse in harness. And it was thisfor the first time, as leader in a tandem. This is difficult to manage when you've got another of us to go in the shafts, but more difficult when you have not. Green Horne's stable was not a rich one: neither his father's cob nor his sister's mare went in harness; but then he thought the gardener and the helper might do as well. So they acted the part of wheeler on this occasion. I was not at all nervous; but it was new to me, and I suppose I appeared rather awkward; for we had not gone far, with these two beings supporting the shafts (where they looked miserably ugly and unfit for their work), when our master roared out, "Run to his head!" The words were scarcely out of his mouth before both gardener and helper were out of the shafts. The buggy went up with a swing that made me rear; and Green Horne, Esq., fell out at the back, with a crash that would have broken a stronger back than his.

Faultless as I was on this occasion, it was hardly to be expected that I could remain in the service of his disconsolate parents; and I passed at once into the hands of a parson in a neighbouring county.

CHAP. XII.

A PARSON.-A LADY.-A MAKER.-CONCLUSION.

Until this time I knew nothing of parsons.

The Rev. Holdforth Crowfly was an excellent rider and good sportsman. I served him faithfully for two years, during the winters of which we saw almost every good run, and during the summers of which we went frequently to the nearest market-town in an unexceptionable dog-cart. But he requited all my labours ungratefully, by selling me to a "lady," after practising upon me a cruel experiment, and upon the public a vile deception.

My acquaintance with this class of human beings had been, as I have said, slight. I suppose they dislike or have no need of the services of our race. In each hunt I saw but one or two; but I am bound in justice to observe that they were almost always the leading men in every good "thing." I hear that their peculiarities are these either very timid or very bold; very ignorant as regards our qualities, or very knowing; very bad men in other matters, or very good. They wear very clean boots and leathers, black coats, and white neck-cloths; and hold rather a superior than inferior situation among men and monkies. Among the latter they are of very high caste, as their original name- "Monk"-denotes. Be this as it may, true or false, I was now in the service of one. I still remained, with one eye and my fired hocks, the admiration of some; and my rider never lost an opportunity of exhibiting me: but I was getting old, and that complaint was increasing daily. The Rev. Holdforth Crowfly knew this, and determined upon selling me. Now, having

with great truth told everybody that I was eight years old, he thought himself bound to make me so. With the assistance of a couple of rogues and the hobbles, he deliberately cast me, and with a sharp-pointed steel instrument and a small red-hot iron he made an indelible mark in the two corner incisors of my upper jaw. Having gently touched some of the other teeth, he left me with an assurance that now I never "could be more than eight years old," come what would.

Human beings, amongst other absurdities, have a singular manner of "mating." It is called amongst them, "marrying;" and they arrive at it by a process called "making love." I only mention this because I was the victim of it in the case of this master. He was making love, and it consisted (as far as I was concerned) in keeping me out at all hours of the night, sometimes ordering me at ten o'clock, and not getting on me till twelve o'clock, and then galloping home to make up for lost time.

It was, therefore, with no small satisfaction that I heard myself recommended the last day of the season to an old gentleman of our hunt (no other than the father of my master's intended mate), as an excellent lady's horse, and fit to carry the old gentleman himself the next winter. But how short-sighted is horseflesh! What the parson took out of me in standing at the door, the young lady took out of me in actual galloping. No road was too hard, no field too deep, no day too hot, cold, or wet; out I came, and away we went. There were but two saving clauses-a light weight and a light hand; but if I wished to reduce condition, to batter legs and feet, to be weighed down on one side, and whipped, or rather tickled, on the other-in fact, to do the work of three, and that at the pace of a moderate plater, and every day in the week but one-I'd pray to the genius that presides over our species to make me a "lady's horse."

I was standing one afternoon, after a bustling canter of about ten miles, but which my young mistress called a lovely morning's ride, when who should enter the stable but Mr. Martingale, with her father. I knew my old master's voice in a moment, and sighed for youth and Northamptonshire again.

"There, Martingale, that's a nice horse," said he, referring to my next neighbour.

"So he is. But what a neat bay horse you've got there!"

"Oh! that's my daughter's. You see, he's fired and lost an eye; but he's a first-rate hunter."

All this time my first purchaser examined me attentively. "And where might you have picked him up?"

"From that clergyman that dined here last night. Crowfly sold him to me for fifty pounds. He's only eight years old." "Really! and did Crowfly tell you that too?"

"Yes, to be sure."

"Oh! how this world is given to lying"! (Of course he meant men and women.)

"But just look in his mouth."

"Mouth, my dear sir! Why, I bought him at three years old; and that's twelve years ago."

I don't know how the matter ended; for after Mr. Martingale

G G

had caressed me, and sung my praises, and firmly convinced the old gentleman that he had been "done," by pointing out the "cutting and burning" system so fully developed in my mouth, they left the stable; but this I do know that the Rev. Holdforth Crowfly ceased to be of our riding parties from that time, nor did I ever again see him in that county.

From that time I descended gradually to what I am—a worn-out hunter, with every wish for enjoyment, but without capacity for anything but a slow four-wheeler, from over-work in the earliest years of my life. Had I been doing at six and seven years old what I did at the age of three and four, I should now be fit for the exertions which I made at nine.

My galloping mistress put the finishing touch to my increasing infirmities; and I was sold, an acknowledged cripple, for fifteen pounds, to an infantry officer. A rattling gallop on a stomach-full of water, one fine morning, settled the question of "roarer or not roarer," after an attack of influenza, by at once breaking my wind; and I was knocked down a second time at " the Corner" to a worthy quaker, as quiet in harness, for the magnificent sum of nine guineas.

And here I draw these disheartening recollections to a close. I have enough to eat, and but little work. John Allworthy's broadbrimmed hat and straight-cut coat cover a bald head and a warm heart. Once a-week I am ridden or driven into market. The rest of my time is spent in meditation upon the absurdities of the human race, and the hope that when our triumph shall come, and they become subservient to us, we shall study their happiness and convenience more than they generally do ours.

Adieu! Beware, humanity! of making us what we are not naturally-restive and ill-tempered. Spare the whip and spur: kindness in our tender years will be repaid by a longer life of active servitude. A light hand on our mouths, a close seat, and a bold heart will always be responded to; but irresolution on your part will as certainly beget timidity or opposition on ours. Moderately slow at all jumps but water; and try to suit the fences to our years and capacity. Hunting is our delight, steeple-chasing our aversion; but our sense and nature are such that we would do anything for a kind

master.

SPORTSMEN AND SPORTING MEN.

BY HARRY HIEOVER.

It is by no means unlikely that there are some persons who may say and think using the two terms of " sportsmen " and "sporting men a matter of supererogation, and will further say that the two terms are synonymous. I am quite sure no true sportsman would say so, though it is by no means improbable that some, indeed many, sporting men might. If they should, and also really think it, I can only assure them they labour under the influence of a very material error, and by so doing arrogate to themselves a title to which they have no claim-or at least such